Retro Game of the Week: Penguin Wars

On 04/27/2013 at 12:23 PM by The Last Ninja

A simple and straight-forward game full of nothing but charm.

Penguine Wars was released for Game Boy in 1990; apparently, it was also released for Arcade and NES prior to that, but I'm going to focus on the GB game. It's a very simple game. There are five characters: Penguin, Cow, Rabbit, Rat, and Bat. You choose your character then face-off against one of the other animals. Each player has five balls on his side of the table. The goal is to get all of your balls to the opponent's side, or to have less balls on your side by the time the timer hits zero. Boring, right? Not even close!

Strategy is important: where will you throw your next ball? Should you wait for your opponent to throw his? Should you unleash them all at once? These are things to consider in the heat of battle. Also, if his ball hits one of your balls, it will cause them to go off into other directions, or even roll back to you. Sometimes objects will appear in the middle of the table and hider balls from making it all the way across. And here's the best part: if you or you opponent gets hit by a ball it will stun the character, giving the other player a chance to get all the balls across and win.

screenshot

Yes, the game is simple, but it's so fun! It's the perfect game for a road trip. I remember back in the day, when my brothers and I had an original GB (in the 90s), and we would go on road trips. We would take turns playing the GB. I wish we had this game because you can play short rounds, then hand it to another person to play a couple rounds, then off to the next person. It's really quite fun; if you don't believe me, you have to give it a try.

I also have to mention that this game was two player! Apparently, if two people both had the game cartridge, they could hook up via a GB cable and play each other! Man, that had to be awesome! This probably won't happen, but it would be awesome if Nintendo released this game for the Virtual Console on 3DS. Keep dreaming, right? I would certainly buy it.

Final Verdict: 4 Stars--Recommended

Simple, addicting, and fun: the perfect combination for a GB game. The characters are lovable too. I think it's funny that the you can only see the rat's tail when he's on the far side (shorty). The game is full of charm (animal charm). It was a game that was perfect back when gaming was still simple. Y'know, we need some simple games like this today.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.

Cary Woodham

04/27/2013 at 02:16 PM

As a fan of games like Super Dodge Ball, Penguin Wars has always looked interesting to me.

The Last Ninja

04/27/2013 at 08:13 PM

It's awesome! Give it a try if you can.

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

04/27/2013 at 04:07 PM

I loves me some Penguin Wars! This is a simple game, but has a lot of strategy and can get pretty tough.

04/27/2013 at 08:15 PM

On the surface it seems simple, but strategy is very important. And you're right, the game can get difficult. There's no difficulty setting, but sometimes the opponents can be really good.

smartcelt

04/28/2013 at 12:12 AM

That game does look like fun. I have such good memories in regard to the Game Boy. It got me through a lot of boring times at sea when I was in the Navy. I would have been really bored and depressed without it. Had Mario and Kirby games....all sorts of stuff. And this one would have kept me entertained I know.

04/28/2013 at 01:02 AM

Yeah, the Navy's pretty boring lol. The GB has a big place in my childhood. Where would I be today without it? (well, maybe not THAT big)

daftman

04/29/2013 at 09:16 AM

Awesome little game, Penguin Wars. My favorite part, though, is the victory music when you win one of the tournaments. It's so catchy!

04/30/2013 at 12:26 AM

That music is pretty awesome! Man, this game's got it all!

PixlBit